bleach drawings
While perusing Pinterest one day some t-shirts caught my eye...someone had made pretty drawings with bleach pens on solid colored tees. Although bleach is not usually a substance for kids (in fact, I don't like it for adults either, after a few too many bleach accidents in the laundry room) I thought the pens seemed pretty safe. All the kids love to draw so this seemed like a really cool way to make their own tees.
The first time we attempted the project was a total failure. My kids don't have a lot of plain solid colored tee shirts so I bought some really bright day glo ones as American Apparel. That was a mistake...the shirts are so colorfast that the drawings did not appear. I thought maybe I just washed it out too quickly but when we tried it again with the same tees we left the bleach on for hours, and eventually overnight, and still no drawings!! The irony is that although the drawings did not appear, spots on the tee shirt Bea was wearing while doing the project did...even though I washed it the second I noticed her dragging her arm across the bleach!
I almost gave up on the idea but we decided to try one more time...this time using some old tee shrits we found in our drawers. I am so glad we did. Finally, our efforts paid off and the kids love the way their tee shirts came out. I am just sorry that the beautiful bird drawing Bea did the first time around did not work...it was awfully cute.
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Reader Comments (4)
Lila says Ollie's is "really good," and she wants to try it again!
Oh my gosh what a cool idea! So glad I have stumbled across your blog. Love it!
I love this idea! I wanted to let you know that will be featuring these tomorrow in my “What I Bookmarked This Week” post – stop by and see!
I think these are awesome! I'm interested in trying this. I see you used old shirts. Would prewashed new shirts work too? Also how long did you leave the bleach on before washing? Thanks. Looking forward to see how these turn out!